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Topic: Regional sayings (Read 58071 times)

I was chatting with a gal from Oklahoma and was about to say something about the weather in her "neck of the woods." Then I realized she didn't live where there were or ever had been a forest, and didn't know if it would confuse her.

Yeah, I think "neck of the woods" is pretty common regardless of the woodedness of one's region.

I have never heard "my bag." I wonder if that person was just mishearing what other people were saying. I spent much of my childhood in Michigan. "My bad," I think, is more of a youth culture thing -- or it was 20 or so years ago, onward.

I grew up in the Rocky Mountain region of the US and had never heard this till I moved to the Northeast. When someone makes a mistake, they say "my bad." And I had a friend from Michigan who said that where she lived, they didn't say "my bad" but they said "my bag" instead, when they were correcting themselves.

I'm from the Mid Atlantic area and "my bad" is very common around here. I did get into an argument with someone who insisted that it was "my bag" but we eventually agreed to disagree.

I was chatting with a gal from Oklahoma and was about to say something about the weather in her "neck of the woods." Then I realized she didn't live where there were or ever had been a forest, and didn't know if it would confuse her.

Do people use that phrase in non-woodsy areas?

Oh sure! Me and Thipu1 are both from NYC, but she's from Brooklyn, and in my neck of the woods (urban Queens... which does have some wooded areas but is still NYC afterall) is a whole different world then hers

I grew up in the Rocky Mountain region of the US and had never heard this till I moved to the Northeast. When someone makes a mistake, they say "my bad." And I had a friend from Michigan who said that where she lived, they didn't say "my bad" but they said "my bag" instead, when they were correcting themselves.

Having grown up in the northeast and then moving to the Rocky Mountain region, I never noticed that one...but now I'm going to see if people don't say it here (because I'm oh so far from you ). I grew up saying it so I never paid attention for people not saying it...challenge accepted!

Glad you accepted after I threw down the gauntlet. And if you do hear "my bad" be sure to follow that up with "where are you from?"

Like when my husband and I were in FL where I believe they drink "soda" and he ordered a "pop." The guys at the pizzeria counter all looked at him like he had three heads. I had to quickly excuse us and explain "yeah, we're not from around here."

I grew up in the Rocky Mountain region of the US and had never heard this till I moved to the Northeast. When someone makes a mistake, they say "my bad." And I had a friend from Michigan who said that where she lived, they didn't say "my bad" but they said "my bag" instead, when they were correcting themselves.

Having grown up in the northeast and then moving to the Rocky Mountain region, I never noticed that one...but now I'm going to see if people don't say it here (because I'm oh so far from you ). I grew up saying it so I never paid attention for people not saying it...challenge accepted!

Glad you accepted after I threw down the gauntlet. And if you do hear "my bad" be sure to follow that up with "where are you from?"

Like when my husband and I were in FL where I believe they drink "soda" and he ordered a "pop." The guys at the pizzeria counter all looked at him like he had three heads. I had to quickly excuse us and explain "yeah, we're not from around here."

And see, I grew up saying pop and people out here cringe when I say it; everyone I've encountered calls it soda out here.

I was chatting with a gal from Oklahoma and was about to say something about the weather in her "neck of the woods." Then I realized she didn't live where there were or ever had been a forest, and didn't know if it would confuse her.

Do people use that phrase in non-woodsy areas?

Oh yes, 'neck of the woods' is generic American. Whether or not trees are present, you know it means the place where you live.

We never have quite figured out how woods have a neck but, who really cares? it's fun to say.

I was chatting with a gal from Oklahoma and was about to say something about the weather in her "neck of the woods." Then I realized she didn't live where there were or ever had been a forest, and didn't know if it would confuse her.

Do people use that phrase in non-woodsy areas?

Oh yes, 'neck of the woods' is generic American. Whether or not trees are present, you know it means the place where you live.

We never have quite figured out how woods have a neck but, who really cares? it's fun to say.

"I feel sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." "It is so low, in fact, that Miss Manners feels sure you would not want to resort to it yourself, even in your own defense. We do not believe in retaliatory rudeness." Judith Martin

This was a word my grandfather used to say about food that was especially good. If he told the cook the food was "larapin good" it was his highest compliment.

The only other person I ever heard say the word was the Gunsmoke character Festus (played by Ken Curtis).

Now, one source I found said it was used especially in Kansas and Oklahoma in the late 1800s and into the 1900s. Considering my grandfather was born in Kansas within 20 miles of the Oklahoma border, I think it fits.

I was chatting with a gal from Oklahoma and was about to say something about the weather in her "neck of the woods." Then I realized she didn't live where there were or ever had been a forest, and didn't know if it would confuse her.

Do people use that phrase in non-woodsy areas?

Absolutely. Refers merely to the sayer's local area, regardless of actual woods.Not restricted to USA either.

Growing up in the Boston area I called that four-wheeled thing you push around at the grocery store a carriage. Now it's a cart. Same for those two-wheeled things that people who walk to the store carry their groceries home in. Formerly "two-wheeled carriage," now cart. A friend calls them "blue-haired lady carts," because she associates them with older women.

To me "out of pocket" refers to money. As in, stuff you pay for out of whatever money (cash or plastic) you're carrying as opposed to what is already covered (e.g., for a vacation you pay in advance for your hotel and rental car, but you still have to pay out of pocket for meals, souvenirs, park admissions, etc.). I've never heard it used to mean out of the area or not reachable.

My mom says "mind your own beeswax" as a slangy alternative to "mind your own business." She's Boston-born and raised.

This is a really common phrase in Ireland so I'm not surprised with the Boston connection. Even though I'm pretty sure it's used in the UK as well.

Ha, that might explain why my family is so liberal with the use of it! I never realized that minding your own beeswax was something other than what kids say 'round here!

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“Poetry is a sword of lightning, ever unsheathed, which consumes the scabbard that would contain it.” PBS